By now you probably know all there is to about BT's forthcoming trial of 8Mbps broadband ADSL services. Never the less, BT has today made another public announcement about it:

BT Retail has announced that it will start trialling a mega-fast 8Mbps broadband service from April, with the aim of rolling it out to both consumer and business customers by the end of the year.

The announcement follows BT’s super-fast 2Mbps service launch last month. The trial will last approximately 10 - 12 weeks. A larger trial is expected in the summer following a successful technical pilot.

The trials are in response to the increasing use of broadband-based technologies in the home and at work, as well as the development in the market of broadband applications such as video-over-broadband and broadband to your TV.

Gavin Patterson, MD Consumer and Group Marketing for BT Retail, said: “Our customers are already benefiting from our new super-fast standard speeds. However, this is a fast moving industry with an ever growing demand for bigger and better content and applications. Therefore we are ensuring we are ahead of the game in developing broadband so we can be the first to deliver those new services to the marketplace.

“However, it’s vital that we get it right, hence the trials. We need to make sure that everything is in place prior to a full launch, to ensure that we deliver the best broadband experience for our customers,” Patterson added.

The trials will take place starting in April late spring, with a view to launching a higher speed service by the end of the year. The first phase of the trial will be internal, but future information on customer involvement will be issued in the near future.

Much more rests on the success of these trials than the simple ability to prove or disprove ADSL's (should we start calling it ADSL v1 now?) technical ability to deliver 8Mbps.

For sometime now many have dreamt of faster speed services, yet proving that the demand actually exists as a commercial viability is the key. Certainly there are more than a few providers with reservations about 8Mbps adoption.